ABSTRACT
With the death of Brunhild in 613 the whole of the Merovingian kingdom fell, once again, to one man: Chlothar II, the son of Fredegund and heir of Chilperic II. For the next two generations there was, remarkably, to be little or no civil war in the Merovingian kingdom. Not that the kingdom was permanently united under one monarch during that period. Chlothar created a sub-kingdom for his son Dagobert I in 623, 1 and in so doing established what was to become a more or less standard division between the west Frankish kingdom of a combined Neustria and Burgundy and the east Frankish kingdom of Austrasia. Despite the peace and despite the crystallization of Francia into two standard political entities, there is little to suggest that the structure of politics changed. The evidence of Fredegar, although not as full as that provided by Gregory, continues to illuminate the shifting relations between the king, the aristocracy and the Church. Indeed, despite the relatively terse nature of Frcdegar's account, he provides important evidence on factional conflict, and on the involvement of a number of families who make their first clear appearance in the written record during this period. Within this conflict the importance of the royal court and the dominance of the Merovingians is clearly visible in Fredegar's Chronicle, as in various saints' Lives and the letters of Desiderius of Cahors. Despite the importance of faction, the reigns of Chlothar II (584–629) and Dagobert I (623/29–39) can be seen as marking the apogee of Merovingian power, both at home and abroad.
